by Stefania Gil
“I see.” Natalia noticed he looked at her differently. He analyzed her.
“Maybe if we start from scratch, I could come up with a project, to possibly change your mind.”
“You assured me you liked a challenge?”
“It is so.”
“I’ll propose one to you.” Natalia smiled at him with hope. “I'm not going to sell you anything, but if you can get Manuel to agree to a better home, I'll be happy to hire your company to do whatever you want. I know it's not what you expected, but it's all I can offer. I am very sensitive about my space and I do not like to socialize with anyone.”
Natalia watched him with a mixture of enthusiasm and doubt. Why would such a handsome man with money, want to live away from people, at his age?
Was he hiding from someone?
“So what do you say? Do you accept the challenge or not?”
She blinked a couple of times and although it did not seem easy at all, it was not impossible either. She would think of a way to win Manuel over and convince him his house was falling apart.
She extended her hand and Francisco shook it firmly with a special gleam in his eyes.
“Deal.”
8
Francisco watched Natalia walk away toward the main house.
He was tempted to accompany her, but didn’t want to be more recklessness than he had already been that morning.
He had to admit she was a very attractive woman.
Beautiful, or rather.
She had this beauty that could be compared to an angel. Blonde as the sun, with beautiful blue eyes, a provocative mouth, with good height, slender and above all intelligent.
It was a deadly combination for Francisco who still did not understand why he was determined to keep thinking about her. He could not spend all day with her in his thoughts. It was neither prudent nor productive.
“Francisco, I wanted to apologize for not having taken care of the woman, if it's okay with you, I'd advise you to send someone else to supervise the work or we can change companies.”
Francisco smiled. Rodrigo knew him very well and on any other occasion he would have increased his salary but at the moment he couldn’t fathom the idea of never seeing her again. If he followed the norm with his foreman, he wouldn’t.
“No, Rodrigo, don’t worry. A little company doesn’t hurt me.”
Francisco was as surprised as Rodrigo by his words.
“As you wish.”
“Who hired the company in which Ms. Castañeda works?”
“Pilar, sir.”
“Okay, tell your wife to come over when she is free so I can to talk to her.”
“I shall.”
“I'm leaving with Scout for a walk.” Rodrigo nodded as Francisco mounted the animal. For a moment he had the notion to propose his foreman call his wife and they do him the honor of having lunch with him.
He did not know why he suddenly felt so alone and so tired of hiding from the world.
How could he ever become so unhappy overnight?
It was only days before he had seen happiness at its best, in fact, Francisco did not remember what happiness was. Not even when he escaped the inquisitor's hands. He was blamed for their deaths. They were his responsibility and he did not allow himself to feel any kind of happiness.
He spurred the animal and Scout understood he must run fast as his master liked. Francisco used to feel free when he galloped but not today.
On the contrary, he felt a pressure tightening more and more in the center of his chest. It was suffocating. He was being dominated by this whirlwind of feelings that had been harassing him for so many centuries, and of which he didn’t know how to be free.
The pressure rose to his throat and without realizing a river of tears began to overflow his dark eyes.
The pressure was not relieved, rather it took more strength. He ended up screaming as loud as he could.
He stopped the horse and hugged the horse's neck as he wept like a lost tyke.
And that in fact was how he felt: lost.
Natalia resurfaced in his mind again.
From a moment he remembered her at Manuel's house. The first time the old man threatened her with his shotgun, he knew she was going to bring him trouble. Although he still didn’t believe she was involved in the secret society. He was convinced Natalia Castañeda appeared in his life to completely turn it upside down.
***
Natalia left Caserío Peña thinking of the most effective method to approach Manuel without him firing his shotgun. She could continue with the basket game but it would cost her a fortune to convince the man his living conditions were not the most convenient.
So she had to do something else.
She had been thinking about what she could do for two days, and hadn’t come up with anything. She told Isabel the big step she took in respect to the ruined property.
She asked her if she could deal with the old man alone. Fortunately, Isabel did not object and gave her the freedom she wanted as long as she didn’t jeopardize the company, of course.
She had not seen her grandmother in a few days, and told herself she would visit her that afternoon without fail.
She entered the office, and Isabel was waiting for her with a radiant smile.
“Good Morning! She greeted her effusively.”
“It must be really good for you to look like that. New client?”
Isabel rolled her eyes, got up from her desk and walked to where she was.
She hugged her very firmly.
“Wow!” Natalia was surprised by the hug.
“I knew I wasn’t mistaken in hiring you. Pilar just called to speak on behalf of Mr. Peña and tell us that our work is” —Isabel ran to find the paper where she had noted what Pilar said— “sublime and exquisite. He also said that he loved the professionalism of our employees and hopefully we will continue to hire such risky and intelligent people.”
Natalia was astonished.
“He said you were charming,” Isabel smiled, “and he was willing to negotiate for the house in ruins if we persuaded Manuel to move to another dwelling.”
The man had something up his sleeve, Natalia thought.
“Thank you.” Isabel sincerely thanked her for everything she did for her and her company.
“It’s my job Isa. I think Mr. Peña is exaggerating a lot. It’s more than obvious he has another interest.”
“You don’t have to be a genius to figure it out. What's up, my dear? You are single, enjoy life. You told me he was a handsome man.”
“And suspicious, too. Did I tell you the woman who brought us coffee didn’t raise her head in his presence and that Rodrigo almost had a heart attack when he saw us talking?”
“Well yes, the truth is, that is quite strange.”
“It could be anything from the mafia to a drug cartel” Lots of money, no family, and a lot of mystery.”
Isabel peered doubtfully at her.
“Didn’t you say you thought he was a good man?”
“Appearances are deceptive, Isa. Although my instincts are hardly ever wrong, you never know.”
“That’s true. In any case, it’s obvious he likes you, so do not be surprised if one of these days he calls to invite you to coffee.”
“I doubt it, and if he does, I'll mention the busiest place in town to see if he dares to show. That will tell me if he’s hiding something or not.”
“Valid. It is your right. In the end.” Isabel gazed at her with dreamy eyes. “Carlota is coming soon!”
Natalia was glad to hear the news. It was nice to know Isabel would be with her sister again after being separated for so long by the older Alcalá’s job.
“She’ll be here by Christmas, then.”
“The only reason she wouldn’t be home on Christmas Eve, is if she were dead.”
They both laughed.
“I need you to help me buy Christmas paraphernalia.”
“Relax, Isa. It’s not time to begin decorat
ing. Halloween has barely arrived.”
“We'll have to arrange a trip to the United States. I want to have the house beautiful by the time my sister arrives.”
Natalia was thinking she wanted to return to the United States on vacation.
“Well, I could use a few days off.”
“Done, I'll buy the tickets for the end of November. We’ll stay for a week in New York, so you can see the branch office of this office and we’ll go Christmas shopping.”
“I love the idea.”
For the rest of the day, Natalia was submerged in pending work, attending to a new client who was coming to the office to ask questions and she was continuously thinking about how to approach Mr. Manuel.
Without realizing it, it was lunch time and almost on an automatic mode, they closed the office and went to their separate homes. Natalia would go to her grandmother's house.
She was grateful there was not a lot of traffic at that hour due to the fact she was hungry.
As always, her grandmother received her with a delicious dark roast and homemade mashed potatoes.
“Well, what worries you today, sweetheart?”
Few things escaped her grandmother.
She told her everything that had happened with Manuel. She wanted to skip the details of the shots fired, but it did no good to try to hide it. Her grandmother would suspect she was hiding something from her and force her to tell. So she saved herself the irritation and told the entire story.
“It’s like talking to your grandfather. You're just as reckless as he was. What the hell were you thinking about when you saw the shotgun?”
“Don’t be a drama queen grandmother, nothing happened.”
“But it could have. Not a word of this to your mother. She will be hysterical, for sure.”
Natalia smiled, it was true.
“And now,” continued Natalia, “Mr. Peña challenged me to get Manuel out of that ruined house, and I don’t know how to do it.”
“I see Mr. Peña may have an interest in you too. Is he handsome?”
Natalia rolled her eyes.
“Yes, Grandmother, he is. He reminds me of my grandfather when he walked on the estate with his horses.
“Honey, I'm sorry, but no one could be more handsome than your grandfather!” Natalia knew she meant it. For her grandmother there was no man more handsome than her late husband. “Well then I'll make some coffee while we think of a strategic plan for that poor man to get a better home and you getting the satisfaction of remodeling the property. Besides, you never know what can happen between Mr. Peña and you.”
“Grandma, I don’t intend to date anyone. I'm fine as I am.”
“I didn’t tell you to date, I just said go out and have some fun.”
“Isabel and you should go out for coffee.”
They both laughed.
She told her grandmother about this morning, how they planned to go to the United States, at the end of November.
“Seems alright to me. Go out and enjoy. If you can, take Mr. Peña with you, you never know.”
“Grandmother! ALREADY!”
The perfectly-trimmed white-haired woman smiled wryly at her granddaughter.
“I think I have a good plan for approaching Mr. Manuel.”
9
“Francisco!” Rodrigo called from his horse. Francisco was still on the grass hugging his legs.
He was grateful to have stopped crying considering he would be very ashamed if his foreman caught him. Especially since he could not explain the reason for weeping uncontrollable a few minutes before.
“Are you okay?”
Rodrigo jumped off his horse to approach his boss.
“Yes, man, easy. I'm fine. I just wanted to stop a bit and the time escaped me.”
Rodrigo studied him with concern.
“You've been like this for three days, we're worried.”
“There's nothing to worry about. Have I been like this for three days? I need to occupy my mind, Rodrigo. What if we go organize the accounts?”
Rodrigo didn’t move.
“With all due respect, Francisco, I think you need to talk to someone about what ails you.”
He was right, but with whom could he talk about his immortality without being seen as a madman or as a possible threat.
“I'm fine, really. Come on.”
Rodrigo wanted to extend the conversation, but Francisco gave him a knowing look.
“Manuel found me a while ago and asked me to tell you that as soon as you can, stop by his house.”
Francisco nodded.
“I better get going now; we’ll leave the accounts for later.”
He turned his horse around to hurry to Manuel's house.
The road seemed to never end.
When he arrived, Manuel was waiting for him on the terrace as usual when he sent for him.
“Boy, they brought you something.”
Francisco’s entire body tensed.
All his senses went on high alert after hearing something had been left for him there.
“You look like you’ve just seen a ghost. What is happening to you today?”
“Who left it and what did they leave?”
Francisco kept looking around.
“Stop being paranoia. Damn it!”
The immortal turned to Manuel.
“There's nothing to be afraid of, boy.”
Manuel entered the house and came out with a plastic container.
“The blond left you this. I didn’t know you had such good relationship with her as to have her grandmother send you food.”
They both laughed and Francisco thanked his timely joke considering it helped him relax.
It was almost lunch time.
“Care to join me?”
“I have my portion but we can keep each other company, wait a couple of minutes for the bread to finish baking.”
Meanwhile, they set the table in silence.
The bread Manuel was baking in the old oven, in the rickety kitchen, gave the house a smell so familiar it took Francisco back several centuries ago. When all his family lived and his mother was in charge of preparing the food for them. The house always smelled wonderful when they arrived hungry after a day's work.
How he missed those moments!
He missed his family. He longed to have a home.
Sigh.
“Boy, stop thinking bad thoughts.”
“As if it were so easy, Manuel.”
“No, it’s the truth. It is not. But you solve nothing by torturing yourself with memories that fill you with sadness.”
“Isn’t it the same with you?”
Manuel didn’t answer.
“I'm an old man, Francisco. No matter what I have lost throughout my life, you have your whole life ahead of you. Don’t dwell on loneliness for fear of being hurt again. Don’t make my mistake.”
It was the first time old Manuel let him see a little of what distressed him.
“Is that what happened to you? Did they deceive you?”
The old man nodded as he served the food on plates.
He placed a plate in front of him and the bread on a wooden board.
He sat down beside Francisco with his plate of food. He picked up the bread and tore it in half. The bread was still steaming.
Francisco imitated him.
“I fell in love with her like an idiot. I was very humble and she did not see the same future as I did. So as soon as she could, she got herself another that would provide her with a comfortable life.”
Francisco nodded without saying anything.
“It's not good to remember the bitter times, boy. So let's eat. I'm dying to try this. It smells so good. Enjoy your meal.”
Francisco tasted a bite. He thought of heaven when the strong flavor of gravy covering the meat settled inside of his mouth.
“Oh dear! This woman is a saint! She cooks like the gods!” Manuel seemed to come to the same revelation.
Francisco smiled.
As he thought of Natalia, again.
“I know what you're up to with that lady and I know you want to get me out of here.”
“I'm not evicting you, Manuel. You know it.”
“I know, and don’t think I'm going to make it easy. For her less, I will tell you, I’ll need more of these meals in order to consider it”—Francisco erupted into laughter— “I like this mood better young man, and the truth is I like that blonde lady too.”
Francisco could not help the twinge he felt.
Was he jealous?
He'd only seen her a couple of times and knew nothing about her. Why the hell was he jealous?
“I'm 82 years old, Francisco; I like that girl for you. So start behaving like a beau to her.”
Francisco could not help but smile and shake his head. It seemed, after all, the beautiful Miss Natalia Castañeda managed to win the confidence of old Manuel.
***
After taking Manuel homemade food for a little more than a week, Natalia wanted to talk a bit with him. So that day she was determined to leave him a good portion of potato omelet and, chocolate cake for him and Mr. Peña that her grandmother insisted on.
Natalia was following the game realizing it also kept her grandmother occupied and happy. It was not like the woman had anything to do during the day. Usually her grandmother did things around the house and cooked when someone came to visit. However, cooking for Manuel and Mr. Peña had given her a purpose that even had her singing.
The help came in good with Natalia considering she was terrible in the kitchen. She did not yet know how to convince Manuel to leave the property.
On that particular day, she was determined to do something.
She parked her car in front of the dilapidated house and took out the heated bag.
She knocked on the door.
The previous days, she left the food there and picked up the clean, empty containers left by Manuel.
She smiled at the thought of how she was becoming a food delivery broker.
